In a blowout Game 3 loss, the Oilers took 21 penalties for 85 penalty minutes, pulled their starting goaltender, had a near line-brawl, and one of their players was irritated enough to squirt a stream from his water bottle at the Florida bench.
— The Edmonton Oilers were blown out by the Florida Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. They took 21 penalties for 85 penalty minutes, pulled their starting goaltender, had a near line-brawl in the third period, and one of their players was irritated enough to squirt a stream from his water bottle at the Florida bench.
But despite all of this, the Oilers swore that the Panthers, considered to be the NHL’s most agitating team, didn’t get under their skin or in their heads Monday night, as Florida took a 2-1 series lead.
“No, I don’t think so. I think the game obviously got out of hand at the end there. That stuff is going to happen. You look at some of the calls and whatnot, [and] obviously some of them are frustrating”, said winger Evander Kane, who had more penalty minutes in Game 3 (16) than he had in his previous 17 playoff games combined (14).
Kane said when the Oilers tried to match the Panthers’ physicality and instigation, they were penalized, while Florida was not.
“They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line. They’re doing just as much stuff as we are”, Kane said. “There seems to be a little bit more attention on our group.”
The Panthers had 14 penalties for 55 penalty minutes in the game.
After two tightly played games that left the series tied 1-1 — both of which needed overtime to be settled — Game 3 was a blowout that played right into the Panthers’ hands.
“Right away, I thought we ended up playing what Florida kind of wanted: just a little bit of a track meet, a little bit of grinding, lots of penalties. It was just penalty chaos tonight”, said Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, who had his weakest game in weeks — including a delay of game penalty for a puck over the glass that resulted in Florida’s fifth goal and saw Skinner pulled at 3:27 of the third period.
The Panthers excel at agitation. For the first time in the series, Edmonton took the bait.
Kane took two penalties within 2:41 of the first period and later slashed Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe while Verhaeghe was on his stomach in the third period.
